BOSTON — The World Hockey Association is not making a comeback, and unless commissioner Gary Bettman wakes up one morning and decides to go on a league-expanding rampage there won’t any new entries into the NHL to pillage the Bruins’ roster.

That alone puts this year’s Bruins ahead of the last Stanley Cup-winning team from 1972 in terms of an ability to repeat as champions.

After the ’72 Bruins won the title, Boston’s second in three years, with a six-game victory over the New York Rangers, the roster stripping began. Eddie Westfall went to the New York Islanders in the expansion draft and some of the Bruins’ biggest stars — Gerry Cheevers, Derek Sanderson, John McKenzie and Ted Green — bolted for the riches of the WHA.

The 1972-73 Bruins still had a deep pool of talent but not enough to get them past the first round of the playoffs.

Now you look at the 2010-11 roster and realize you might be witnessing the exploits of many of the same players that just won the Cup out on the Garden ice next winter. Of the 23 players who regularly took warm-ups at the end of Boston’s playoff run, only four — Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder, Tomas Kaberle and Shane Hnidy — are unrestricted free agents.

We know Recchi is pretty certain to retire (I won’t buy it until camp opens and he stays home). Hnidy was a midseason pick-up who looked quite rusty when forced into action. The Bruins aren’t likely to bring him back, especially with plenty of young blueliners waiting for his job. Ryder and Kaberle both present interesting cases to be brought back or allowed to walk. I’ll delve more into those cases soon enough.

Among the rest of the roster there’s just one restricted free agent — Brad Marchand. The rookie sensation figures to make a nice raise from his entry-level contract, which could put him at anywhere from $3 to $3.5 million. With Recchi’s money coming off the cap and the cap increasing, the Bruins should be able to get this done in short order with maybe just a haggle over term coming.

Eighteen other players are signed for 2011-12, including the Bruins’ entire first line and top four defensemen. And the youth among some of those core players is amazing, led by Milan Lucic (23), David Krejci (25) and Nathan Horton (26). Not to mention the Bruins have Tuukka Rask, a 24-year-old former league-leader in GAA and save percentage, waiting in the wings should their oldest player (sans Recchi) Tim Thomas (37) falter.

Obviously, the Bruins have to clear up the Marc Savard situation. Considering Savard’s inability to fly to Vancouver to be part of the celebration and his detached status as far as the media, things seem bleak for him. Retirement could open up cap space for the Bruins to really upgrade their club.

With Tyler Seguin now a grizzled Cup-winning veteran, he should be ready to take on more responsibility as a sophomore, and Jordan Caron, Jamie Arniel, Steven Kampfer and Matt Bartkowski all seem ready to contribute after a full year of pro hockey. There’s no telling which Bruins recent draft picks might be ready to make the jump to the NHL from juniors next season.

At least for now, general manager Peter Chiarelli doesn’t sound ready to embark on a major overhaul of his championship squad.

“We’re going to continue to tweak. We’re not going to be huge players in free agency, but you know we’re going to look at it. And we’ve got areas where we want to look at but you’re not going to see us hitting a few home runsm or what could be perceived as home runs, this summer,” he said during today’s press conference at TD Garden. “We’re just going to go into it with our eyes wide open and see where we end up. But we’re certainly not going to be big players.”

When you already have a stable of “big players” you don’t need to be big players. Fortunately for Chiarelli and his staff, he won’t have to fight off the claws that were reaching at the Bruins’ roster 39 years ago.

@bigbadbs…I agree, Parise would be something as a Bruin. The Devils offered him team-arbitration. Per the CBA, a team has until the later of June 15 or 48 hours after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals to take a player to arbitration. This will protect Parise from offer-sheets and would guarantee that he’s a Devil for at least 2011-12. A team can’t walk away from the awards of team-elected arbitration per Article 10.12(e).

I think Lamoriello will try very hard to make a significant deal with Parise. Arbitration hearings don’t begin until July 20th so there’s a month for them to reach an agreement.

Bogosian will be 21 years old when the ’11-’12 season starts. He has 3 years of NHL experience. I believe his style of play is a good fit with the B’s, just my opinion.

Cormac, of the names doughty, zach b, weber, and yandle u chose bogosian as your example? Interesting. He’s a distant 4th on that list. Myself, and everyone else would b ecstatic w any of those guys. I wana mention Parise on these lists. He was offered arb, but many think Lou did it to buy time in order to trade him, rather than risk him signing an offer sheet. The ability to get a guy like that is a once in a blue moon deal. Get Parise!

I can’t see Marchand getting $3mil as much as he was my favorite guy to watch this year. Guys don’t seem to get accurate salaries until the threat of becoming a UFA enters the picture. A guy like Brown in LA only makes $3.1 and Grabovski in Toronto is at $2.9. The Flames just signed Curtis Glencross at $2.5. There’s a guy who had a similar season (minus playoffs), and is more experienced. That will probably end up being the measuring stick here.

As for other thoughts. Let Kaberle go. He’s gonna command $4-5mil which he’s earned. Just not here. I’d love to see Bieksa in a B’s jersey.

I also really hope Ryder hasn’t played his last game as a Bruin. Our third line looked phenomenal down the stretch and into the playoffs. We just need to convince Ryder to take 3rd line money and we’re laughing.

Parise, Weber have already been offered arbitration by their teams. Trying to think like a GM I see a few teams that need to improve fast and have money to spend notably Winnipeg/Buffalo (new ownership) and teams like Toronto that need to fix something fast or people will be fired. Couple that with the cap going up and I think your going to see a bunch of overpaid UFA’s. I think the Bruins would rather see what their prospects are capable of and keep their cap number lower to cover their asses when their players need to be resigned or if a truly special player hits the market.
All of that rambling being said, if Savard retires and Ryder takes a pay cut then I would love to see them pick up a defenseman whether its Ian White, Wiz, or even Shane O’Brien who is a really hard hitting gritty D-man who played well for Nashville and was a PK specialist for them.
Of course just like usual I could be wrong and they go out and sign Richards and Bieksa on day one of free agency.

Matt – Haggs over at CSN-NE bursted my bubble when he reminded me that the Bs can’t be players in the RFA market b/c of the Kaberle trade – double kick to the crotch on that one! Maybe you could help paint the picture of possibility related to sign and trades. I mean – we have to get in on the Weber, Yandel, Doughty, Bogosian opps, don’t we. Maybe I’m ok with missing out if they can wrap up Wiz as a simple UFA without having to give anything up.

Marchand either gets $3 for 3, or he goes $2.5 for one to prove he’s worth more.

I’d like to see the Bs upgrade the O, just a tad. I don’t think you can count on Seguin making the big leap just yet, and Spooner / Knight / Sauve are in the same boat – all good, but patience required. So Matt, how do you see the Bs moving parts to add a little more quick-strike skill to the front lines? How much longer do they hang on to TTs big cap hit?

@Nicklaus. Best example of what you said: The habs are going to resign Markov in the next few days. I would have opt for Weez cuz he brings just as much to the game plus, he has that physicality side that Markov does not have and that the habs are so needy of.

Both players have had problems with their knees but Weez seems to have overcome’em. As for Markov: roll the dice, we don’t really know how long his graft is going to hold on.

As much as I like Markov, I think Pierre Gauthier has let his feeling override his judment on that one. To top it all, Weez has probably realized his chances of winning the cup with the habs are far too distant to bother thinking about it.
The Bruins and Weez could provide each other a lot…

I would agree with you, Doc, but the cap is set to increase steadily over the next few years and you’d have to imagine that average player salaries will as well. (In short, $3mil isn’t going to get you what it may have in recent offseasons.) Even though Marchy only has a year under his belt, it was a very solid one with a great cup finals to top it off. $3mil might be a bit steep but not necessarily out of the question.

Looks like the Maple Leafs can’t win a Stanley Cup, so the Toronto Dominion Bank (TD) is the sponsor of your arena. I guess that is a close as they’ll get to a Stanley Cup, unless Burke can spin some magic like he did in Anaheim.

Just keep drafting and signing big tough Canadian players, as they make up 80% of the team. They are built for for the long grind of playoff hockey and are not afraid to hit or get hit. They will go in the corners and fight hard for the puck. Hockey is almost a religion in Canada and that’s why they are the best in the world! Not bad for a country that has a population that is less than California. I wish Canadian teams were as smart as Boston in their player selection and scouting. Congrats on the Stanley Cup Win!!

I remember the exodus of players after the 1972 Stanley Cup championship, and I was not happy about the WHA coming into existence and the Islanders expansion draft. Of course, the NHL had a vastly different landscape in 1972, and the playoffs ended in mid May. That being said, I still think it’s much more difficult to repeat in any major professional sport in this day and age due to more teams and a much longer season and post-season.

Nice piece as usual. I’m with ya on the Recchi comment. Something tells me he could be a late-season signing — like Miroslav Satan.

When mentioning the names of Arniel and Caron etc., I can’t wait for the rookies to take to the ice again. Looking forward to Ryan Spooner and Max Sauve making that last roster spot-push even more interesting this year.